[Brokeback Flamer]

A #13 seed...

DePaul again? What is the deal with the NCAA? Can't we get someone else? We played ODU several times a while back as well. I'd enjoy someone else... I'm not sure about this one... DePaul will have a HUGE chip on their shoulder... and they aren't High Point...

Who knows... maybe we can work some magic and shock the world

It wasn't ODU, it was Georgia twice I believe and I also believe UT twice. Could be wrong on the UT. The committee did not distinguish themselves this year. The UNC side of the bracket is LOADED!! Holy Cats, could they have spread out the talent some? UNC, Rutgers and UT??

I do give credence to the anti - Male bias, (With the exception of GINO, but they are scared of him!!) Always happens, always will.

[Bronx Bombers]

I like our pairing, I just hate that they gave us a 13 seed when MTSU got a 12. That makes no sense other than to get a matchup which I by the way have no problem with. But If you are going to create matchups don't fudge with the seeds to do so. With that said, we have a good shot at beating DePaul and then it would be NC State in the 2nd round who obviously we can play with since we were up on them by 15 in the 2nd half earlier this year.

As far as repeat opponents in the NCAA we have played Georgia 3 times now in 10 years. Other than that it has been a different opponent each year.

1997 - ODU
1998 - TENN
1999 - Georgia
2000 - LSU
2001 - Georgia
2002 - South Carolina
2003 - Vanderbilt
2004 - Georgia
2005 - PSU, DePaul, LSU

With that being said, we are certainly not the team that got screwed the most. That honor goes to none other than the #1 overall seed UNC. Bracket principles tell us that the #1 overall seed should have the #8 overall as the #2 in the bracket. There is no way that UT is the #8 overall team. I would assume that Maryland is probably the first 2 seed, but Tennessee HAS to be the next #2. Also, they sent UNC to Nashville which means they will have to play, you guessed it, Vandy in the 2nd round on their home floor. Then assuming both teams make it, UNC will get Tennessee (a team that travels well) in the regional final in their home state. This is hardly fair considering that UNC should have been in Norfolk, which is the closest location to Chapel Hill. However, that site went to Duke. That doesn't make much sense to me since Duke was beaten by UNC twice. This bracket is as bad as the men's was last night in factoring in the impact of the selection committee. It would appear that UNC got hosed and Duke got a free pass. This is hardly surpising when you consider that Jackie Silar, the SWA at Duke University was on the selection committee. HMMM.....

[A.G.]

quite possibly the work of the Tri-lateralist Commission.

Don't you mean the BI- ???

[krh44]

Kind of surprising. It seems that most projections had us a 12 seed. I hate that we have to play a team we beat in the first round last year. MTSU has tren losses and I just checked one rpi site and they are lower than us.

[thesportscritic]

We beat Depaul in the second round last season. It should be an interesting matchup.

[Stevev]

LU always get hosed come seeding time no matter if it is womens hoops, baseball, or whatever. Some of it is the Big South's reputation but it could be Christian school thing too.

[PAmedic]

Lady Flames Draw 13 seed, DePaul in First Round of the NCAA Tournament

March 13, 2006 · Lynchburg, Va.

Liberty’s women’s basketball team drew a No. 13 seed for the third-straight year and will travel to Chicago, Ill., to take on the number No. 4-seed Blue Demons of DePaul at the Allstate Arena on Saturday, March 18.

The Lady Flames (25-5) face-off against DePaul (25-6), who is ranked No. 13 in the latest ESPN/USA Today Women’s Basketball Poll, with the winner moving on to play the winner of No. 5 seed N.C. State (19-11) and No. 12 seed Tulsa (25-5) on Monday, March 20, in the second round of the San Antonio Regional.

This marks the 10th-straight year Liberty has made the “Big Dance”, while marking the second time in as many years, the two teams will square-off in the tournament. Last season, the Lady Flames upset the Blue Demons in the second round of the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament to advance to the Sweet 16.

Last year, Liberty won its first ever NCAA Tournament game and became just the second ever No. 13 seed to advance to the Sweet 16, picking up wins against No. 4-seeded Penn State (78-70) and No. 5-seeded DePaul (88-79) to advance to the Regional Semifinals of the tournament.

Of the possible second round match-ups, the Lady Flames played N.C. State earlier this season, falling to the Wolfpack in the championship game of the N.C. State Tournament in Raleigh, N.C., while Liberty and Tulsa have never met on the hardwood.

The Liberty enters the tournament having won 22 out of its last 24 games, while having one of the stingiest defenses in the nation as the Lady Flames are tied for first in rebound margin (+11.7), while allowing their opponents to connect on only 34.4 percent of their attempts from the field (tied for second-best in the NCAA).

Liberty and DePaul will kick-off the second session of basketball on the 18th as the two teams will tip-off at 8 p.m. Eastern Time.

[PAmedic]

It just struck me that even though we may be a little disappointed w/ the seeding here, (THIS IS THE PART YOU CURRENT STUDENTS ARE GONNA HATE) this is still so cool for those of us that were around in the D2 days, and even when we first went D1 as an independant. We had no conf affiliation, the dance or playoffs were sooo far from our minds back then- I remember Jerry announcing on TV that LU athletics had "really made it" because our FIRST GAME SCORE had scrolled across the ESPN ticker, back in 88 I think.

Fast forward 20 years and we've won a CONF championship and gone to the tourney 10 YEARS RUNNING! WOW!!

End of time warp- sorry

[bigsmooth]

im disappointed we are playing depaul again, but we matchup well with them. hopefully we can pull the upset, b/c the next round we can certainly beat nc state if they advance.

[LUconn]

(13) DePaul Blue Demons
25-6 (11-5), 3rd Big East

at South Florida L 77-79
at (24) Notre Dame L 75-78
(5) Connecticut L 75-84
at West Virginia L 70-82
at (9) Rutgers L 57-67
at (7) Connecticut L 57-69

West Virginia is a bad loss. Other than that, they don't really have any. We certainly won't be sneaking up on them. Don't ever underestimate "revenge factor". Unfortunatly, their 3 leading scorers are not Freshman and they probably do remember the feeling last year being knocked out of the tournament and having their season ended by the Flames. Thanks NCAA.

[thesportscritic]

The official write up about the game on Saturday.

You think DePaul might be a little fired up for its NCAA tournament first-round game?
Liberty's players and coaches know the Blue Demons will be. The Big South champion Flames, who upset DePaul in the second round of the NCAAs last season, will battle DePaul again in the first round of this year's event.

If the Flames want to advance this time, they'll have to beat the fourth-seeded Blue Demons on their home floor.

That disappoints LU coach Carey Green, who thought his team should have been seeded higher than No. 13.

And he's not real happy that the Flames have to play a true road game in the NCAAs for the first time since meeting Vanderbilt in Nashville in 2003.

"Eventually, as women's basketball continues to evolve, they'll cut out this home court (advantage)," Green said. "Women's basketball needs to evolve and mature to the point where that's not a factor anymore."

The event is going in that direction, NCAA tournament chair Joni Comstock said last week, but not yet. Beginning in 2007, the home-court advantages will be eliminated and the tourney will be a true, 64-team, neutral-floor event.

Liberty has played tough road games this season, hanging with North Carolina State, Virginia Tech and Florida. Only No. 1 overall seed North Carolina ran the Flames out of the gym.

LU forward Karolina Piotrkiewicz, who was part of the team that upset DePaul last season in College Park, Md., isn't afraid of playing on the road in the tournament.

"Coach (Kelley) Deyo told us she always loved going to other places, when everybody hates you and everybody is against you," Piotrkiewicz said of LU's assistant coach, a former Notre Dame player. "That's the best way to show how strong you are."

DePaul went 25-6 this season and finished tied for third in the Big East behind Rutgers and Connecticut. Five of the Blue Demons' losses came against tournament teams. Their only other defeat was at West Virginia, which made a run to the Big East tourney final as a No. 12 seed.

The Blue Demons are led by senior forward Khara Smith, a Wooden Award candidate who averages 17.7 points and 10.9 rebounds per game. The Demons are a high-tempo bunch that scores in bunches.

The matchup should offer an interesting contrast in styles. DePaul averages 76.2 points per game. The Flames are allowing 55.4 points and have held their last 21 opponents to 64 points or less.

"They're very physical and up-tempo," Green said.

Two other Virginia schools earned tourney berths, and one was left home.

Virginia Tech's 20-9 overall mark was enough to merit an at-large bid. The seventh-seeded Hokies will open Bridgeport Region play Sunday against No. 10 Missouri in University Park, Pa.

The Hokies split their last four games, beating Wake Forest twice and losing to Duke twice. Despite a No. 16 RPI rating, Tech's seeding dropped because of a rather bland tournament r?sum?.

Virginia Tech's best wins came at home against conference champs Liberty and Old Dominion. The only road win of note was at Florida State.

Virginia was listed as one of the last four out on several NCAA tournament projections, but Cavaliers coach Debbie Ryan remained hopeful of receiving an at-large bid.

The Cavaliers were disappointed.

Virginia's No. 42 RPI was only two spots better than Liberty's. The Cavaliers won 18 games but went just 5-9 in the ACC regular season before beating Boston College in the conference tournament's opening round. Virginia lost in the ACC quarterfinals to No. 1 North Carolina.

Old Dominion, which won its 14th straight CAA title and earned the No. 10 seed in the Cleveland Regional, will open in Norfolk Sunday against No. 7 George Washington.

http://www.newsadvance.com/servlet/Sate ... th=!sports

[Bronx Bombers]

This article is well done, but I have to point out a mistake Chris. The Lady Flames played Vanderbilt in 2003, but it was in Norfolk. That year we seemed to think that giving us a 14 seed was justified by making Vandy come here to play us. The last time the Lady Flames played a true NCAA road game was in 2002 in Colombia, SC against the Gamecocks.

[Chris Lang]

Then it was wrong in the Big South book. That's where I pulled the information from.

[Bronx Bombers]

Wow - my apologies for calling you out then ...kind of embarassing that our own conference can't get it right. Great article though -- good to know we will be done w/ the home court mess next year. CG always does a good job of masking his thoughts as he once again did last night after the pairing was announced, but those who know him could tell he wasn't happy at all.

[Chris Lang]

No prob. According to the media guide, the Georgia game in 2004 was at a neutral site (Nashville) and the 2003 game against Vanderbilt was at Vandy. So the Liberty guide and the Big South guide match on 2003.

[Bronx Bombers]

2004 vs. Georgia was in Philly in Temple's gym and 2003 vs. Vandy was in Norfolk in ODU's gym...I'll have to ask Joe P. about the mix-up, weird that it says that since the Lady Flames have never played in Nashville, NCAA or otherwise.

[givemethemic]

Your right about the 04 game vs Georgia in Philly cause we talked about the trip in another thread, but looking at the forecast I swear we can never shed the snow!!!!!!!!

[krh44]

I didn't see this posted yet but I found this on a Depaul Message board




Possible 2nd round matchup with 5 seed - NC State

Ed
Re: WBB - DePaul vs. Liberty - 4 seed vs. 13 bluedemonfan
I like their chances in this regional. I don't think the road is that bad


NCAA Selection Chair on rematch with Liberty WeAreDePaul
Q. I was just curious whether the fact that DePaul, which is playing here in Chicago, the first two rounds or at least the first round, playing Liberty, whether the fact that they played each other last year in the tournament had any bearing on that winding up being a first round match up.

JONI COMSTOCK: The committee worked very, very hard to try to not have that happen again this year. But in looking at our principles and procedures, and we were not able to switch that so that we could have DePaul hosting and playing another team in the tournament. It was just, there were other considerations in terms of again the principles and procedures that we can't violate that did not allow us to do that. But it was certainly not our intent to set that up.

[TallyW]

I don't believe them. It doesn't matter too much to me but I don't believe them at all.

To say that they didn't consider that in seeding is at least a little disingenuous. Storylines are important to keep some sort of interest...

[thesportscritic]

I think that this woman intentionally threw us to the Lions den.

[Bronx Bombers]

Let's not be too quick to give DePaul the W here. After all, DePaul has never beaten the Lady Flames. Yes we are going to their home court, but DePaul plays a very similar game to High Point and if we can keep the demons in the 50s this will be a very tight game. If we can get Khara Smith in foul trouble and hit some free throws, the Lady Flames will win.

Also, if this was a quote from any other person on the committee I wouldn't believe it, but Joni is very well-respected and has been at this for a very long time. She is the one responsible for the progression of the tournament to all neutral floors next year. The men's committee did a horrible job this year, and Carolina's bracket on the women's side is a joke, but seeing that DePaul had to play at home I can see where they had a tough time not pairing us w/ DePaul because the committee determined that Tulsa was ahead of us.

[thesportscritic]

I think that Coach Green and the rest of the coaching staff will have the Lady Flames ready for battle on Saturday Night. BB that is a decent comparison with Depaul and High Point playing the same styles. Maybe the difference is that Depaul has played in a much tougher conference which is the Big East. High Point has showed that they can score at times and Depaul this year has been up and down with their scoring. Their Non conference schedule were teams that are not in the tournament and they score around an average of about 86 points per game. But when it comes down to teams who they scheduled whether it be in the conference or out of conference teams in the NCAA tournament, their average drops off about 10-14 points a game depending on the team they play. If it is a bottom feeder in the Big East then they will score about 80 points a game. If not then their PPG average is lower than 80 points.

[Bronx Bombers]

good analysis -- i believe their ppg for the season is 76.2 but I don't think they're gonna get that many against us -- Quigley will not be a factor because we will play her the same way we played Leslie Cook in the BS Championship

NCAA® Women's Basketball
Division I
Scoring Offense
Through Games 03/12/2006

Rank Name GM W-L PTS PPG
1 Duke 29 26-3 2540 87.6
2 Maryland 32 28-4 2674 83.6
3 North Carolina 30 29-1 2498 83.3
4 Georgia 29 21-8 2331 80.4
5 Stanford 30 23-7 2364 78.8
6 Tennessee 32 28-4 2512 78.5
7 UCLA 30 20-10 2347 78.2
8 Idaho St. 29 17-12 2245 77.4
9 Indiana St. 31 26-5 2371 76.5
10 DePaul 31 25-6 2363 76.2